10 start-ups from 8 countries set to grow with METRO Accelerator

A jury of more than 20 members comprising investors, METRO executives and other partners selected 10 tech start-ups from Germany, France, UK, India, Israel, Italy, Croatia and South Korea. Over the next 3 months they will be able to further develop their business models with extensive support from the wholesale and food specialist METRO. During this time, they will be coached by selected experts from a pool of almost 200 mentors, receive a funding of up to 120,000 € each and get support from METRO in infrastructure, network and know-how. The highlight of the programme: Mid-February 2019 the start-up teams will pitch their solutions to potential investors in Berlin.

“The direct exchange with innovative start-ups enables us to change perspectives, which we expect will give new impetus to the hospitality sector. In return, we offer the teams potential access to our roughly 21 million wholesale customers and to an extensive network of contacts in the hospitality sector that start-ups hardly get anywhere else,” explains Sylvia Dudek, Programme Director of the METRO Accelerator. “This year we received more than 400 top-class applications from all over the world. This reach motivates us to continue working together with start-ups to deliver potential hospitality innovations of tomorrow.”

The following 10 start-ups from 8 countries have been selected to take part in the 4th round of the METRO Accelerator for Hospitality:

• Barratio from Paris (France) – Completes daily back-office duties like inventory management or cost calculations within 5 minutes per day, based on a single software solution. Link: www.barratio.fr
• EasyWay from Tel Aviv (Israel) – A virtual assistant for travellers that is integrated into the hotels’ communication channels and backed by artificial intelligence to enhance the traveller experience. Link: www.easyway.ai
• Fresco from Milan (Italy) – Fresco changes the way restaurants offer olive oil. Fresco’s application is the first kitchen appliance to produce fresh olive oil, squeezed on-site, with only one click. Link: www.oliofresco.it
• Gofer from Paris (France) – Gofer is a mobile app, which simplifies the hiring of short-term employees, by matching on-demand staff to the right hospitality establishment. Link: www.gofer.fr
• HeyMojo from New Delhi (India) – HeyMojo builds chat and voice bots customised to marketing campaign automation and website widgets for direct bookings, ordering and guest experience management. The result: Increase direct ordering and guest engagement. Link: www.heymojo.com
• Hotelhero from Berlin (Germany) – Hotelhero is the only hotel technology research platform set out to help independent hoteliers select the most fitting IT solutions for their specific hotel and business needs. Link: www.hotelhero.tech
• Roborus from Seoul (South Korea) – A kiosk collecting customer data and enhancing customer experience based on a machine learning system that provides guests with personalised recommendation. Link: roborus.ai
• Sentiment Search from London (Great Britain) – Using intelligent algorithms Sentiment Search puts forward a solution that aggregates and analyses reviews for restaurants and hotels in any city providing a comprehensive picture of consumer sentiment and thus identifies trends and detailed competitor insights. Link: www.sentimentsearch.com
• Trakbar from Zagreb (Croatia) – Actionable business intelligence supported by artificial intelligence that provides an accurate sales forecast, analytics in real-time and smart order suggestions for small and medium enterprises in the hospitality industry. Link: www.trakbar.com
• Waffle from London (Great Britain) – Waffle is a chatbot that generates demand for restaurants in real-time. Link: joinwaffle.com/

Mid-February 2019 and following 3 months of intensive work, the teams will pitch their business models to selected investors, mentors, potential customers and other industry experts at the Demo Day in Berlin.

METRO building bridges: access to the business network

With the Accelerator Programme in Berlin, METRO promotes innovations that offer a significant value added for the independent hospitality sector. The accelerator mainly supports tech start-ups who bring special potential and facilitate digital transformation in the industry sector. In addition to strong support from METRO the start-ups gain access to the company’s international industry network and its customers. Moreover, after completing the programme, the start-up teams also have the possibility to test their solutions with some 500 restaurant owners in across 5 European markets in the framework of the METROpolitan Pilot Programme.

More information about the Accelerator: www.metroaccelerator.com

For more information about the METROpolitan Pilot: www.dish.co

METRO is a leading international specialist in wholesale and food retail. The company operates in 35 countries and employs more than 150,000 people worldwide. In financial year 2016/17, METRO generated sales of around €37 billion. The company provides custom solutions to meet the regional and international needs of its wholesale and retail customers. With its sales brands METRO/MAKRO Cash & Carry and Real as well as delivery services and digitalisation initiatives METRO sets the standards for tomorrow: for customer focus, digital solutions and sustainable business models.

The METRO Accelerator operates under Hospitality Digital, a company which was established by METRO in 2015 and whose mission is focused on bringing digital solutions to the HoReCa (hotel/restaurant/catering) sector, and to build a platform of innovators, founders and independent business owners. The purpose of the METRO Accelerator is to recruit those start-ups with tech solutions that help optimise stand-alone businesses. In order to cater to the 2 target groups of METRO AG, 2 METRO Accelerator programmes exist; hospitality which focuses on solutions for the hotel, restaurant and catering sector and retail which focuses on the retail, wholesale and trade sector. The METRO Accelerator powered by Techstars for hospitality was launched in 2015, whilst the Accelerator for Retail had its first programme in 2017, since its first programme the METRO Accelerator now has 50+ start-ups in its portfolio. More information at www.metroaccelerator.com